This invention relates generally to a frame for supporting a person in a seated position and is particularly directed to a variably configured frame for use in forming a uniquely configured and contoured bucket seat.
For a person confined to a wheelchair the surfaces upon which his or her body is supported are particularly important. These support surfaces are not only important from a comfort standpoint, but also may be designed to provide support where necessary. In terms of providing comfort, it is important that the support surfaces maximize the area of contact with the user in distributing pressure over as large an area as possible in order to minimize the possibility of pressure sores and the discomfort associated therewith. For the more severely handicapped and deformed, some support may be provided by appropriate contouring of the seat and back support surfaces to match the body configuration of the user. The more closely the contoured surfaces correspond in a complementary manner to the seat and back portions of the user, the greater the comfort, support and stability of the user.
The first step in fabricating the aforementioned contoured support cushions involves making an impression of the person's back and seating areas. The contoured cushions may then be fabricated directly from the thus formed impressions, or may make use of an intermediate negative plaster cast of the person's surface impression in fabricating the contoured support cushions.
Prior art devices used in forming the negative impression containing the contours of the support surfaces of one's body have suffered from various limitations. For example, ideally the back and seat impressions should be made in the same sitting in order to most accurately reflect the user's configuration. However, with the seat oriented generally horizontally and the back oriented generally vertically, the deformable material in the bag-like back support enclosure tends to collect in the lower portion of the enclosure adjacent the lower back resulting in an inaccurate impression of the person's back contour. In addition, apparatus for making these contoured surface impressions have in the past been unwieldy, overly complicated and expensive, and have provided only a limited range of configurations and orientations of the various elements thereof resulting in back and seat contoured surfaces which only approximate those of the person being measured and fitted. Finally, to date, the time required to accurately take a seating surface impression as previously described has been overly extended and has substantially contributed to the discomfort of the person being measured and fitted particularly where that person is suffering from a neuromuscular disease complicated by spinal curvature.
The present invention is intended to overcome the aforementioned limitations of the prior art by providing an adjustable molding frame which may be selectively adjusted in configuration to precisely conform to the contours of the seating and support surfaces of a person positioned thereon. The various degrees of freedom in the adjustable molding frame in combination with easily adjustable controls, which may be securely locked in position once the desired configuration is achieved, permit seat and back surfaces uniquely contoured to the person being measured and fitted to be accurately formed.